Sheffield Wednesday: Shoots of revival are showing

There’s an old saying that if defensive mistakes were not made then there would never be any goals, writes Paul Thompson.

It’s not always true. If someone sticks one in the top corner from 30 yards then there’s not much you can do about it.

Managers sometimes give too little credit to the scoring side - usually when it’s the opposition.

But it depends on your perspective: from Doncaster’s, Federico Macheda’s winner at Hillsborough was a cracker: a peach of a cross to a striker who had the knowhow to find space in the right area and head home.

Wednesday’s viewpoint was understandable when you consider that they could have defended better.

It was the same sort of story at Brighton.

Normally a team who pick up a point at the Amex would be fairly pleased.

But the mood in the Owls camp afterwards was one of dismay that they had conceded an equaliser in the last few minutes, one that could have been avoided.

Dave Jones has made a fair point: that if players did not make errors, they would not be playing for Sheffield Wednesday, they would be playing for Europe’s top clubs in the Champions’ League.

The shoots of an Owls revival have been showing.

Jones would like to improve the team yet further via the loan or free-agent market but says that he must offload first.

Jordan Spence has gone back to West Ham but when Jones referred to a “special deal” with the Hammers, that is taken to mean that they were paying all of his wages, so there has been been no extra financial leeway in that respect. The Owls have also signed Matt Fryatt for a month.

It seems significant that Seyi Olofinjana is still training with the club. Jones admits: “He’ll continue training until we can maybe do something for him, or whatever.”

That raises the possible prospect of a midfield partnership between all-action Olofinjana and playmaker Stephen McPhail, who would probably complement each other. It would certainly add to the squad’s experience and competition for places.

Most urgent of all is that first win. I think it just might arrive tomorrow.